Royals notebook: Ladnier and scouting staff sort through possibilities for No. 3 pick
By BOB DUTTON
The Kansas City Star
Wondering whom the Royals are targeting with the third overall pick in the June amateur draft? Take a look at Baseball America’s top five prospects. Insiders say the magazine is rarely wrong in identifying the consensus view of talent evaluators.
That doesn’t mean the Royals will get — or necessarily want — the No. 3 prospect, who just happens to be Missouri right-hander Aaron Crow, generally credited as having the best fastball among top prospects.
But it’s a fair bet that Crow and the rest of the top five are getting a long look from Royals scouting director Deric Ladnier and his staff. Not just those five, though. Sometimes, someone emerges late in the spring.
“In my mind,” Ladnier said, “I’ve got a pretty good idea of the direction we’re going to end up going. That’s based not only on my opinion but also the opinion of the guys who have been out seeing the players.
“But there is still a lot of time, and we won’t know that until we sit down on May 27 or 28. We’re going to go through the process like we always do and narrow it down.”
Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh have the first two picks in the 50-round draft, which takes place June 5-6 in Orlando, Fla. The order is determined in reverse order of last year’s records.
Baseball America lists Vanderbilt third baseman Pedro Alvarez as the top prospect, followed by San Diego left-hander Brian Matusz, Crow and two high school standouts: shortstop Tim Beckham of Griffin, Ga., and first baseman Eric Hosmer of Plantation, Fla.
Ladnier repeated the usual vow to take the best player available.
“We’re not going to draft a player, specifically our first pick, because we have a need,” he said. “We’re not going to say, ‘OK, we need a center fielder, so we’re going to draft a center fielder.’ I won’t do that.
“We’ll narrow it down to five or six guys, and then narrow it down, really, to three guys. We’ll get one of those three guys.”
Microscope on Yabuta
The decision to designate Hideo Nomo for assignment leaves his countryman, Yasuhiko Yabuta, as the only struggling member of the Royals’ bullpen.
Yabuta has allowed six runs and eight hits in 6 1/3 innings while also issuing seven walks. The six other current members of the bullpen have allowed a combined six runs in 36 2/3 innings.
“With Yabu right now,” manager Trey Hillman said, “it’s just a matter of confidence. He has the ability to pitch here and to pitch well. But if he doesn’t pitch with confidence, he won’t pitch well.
“Shoot, I think he only had eight (walks) all last year. To have four in one inning (on Friday) is something I wasn’t prepared to see. But it’s also not something that is so earth-shattering to me that we press the panic button.”
Run-starved attack
The Royals’ 63 runs are the fewest in the American League. The Twins, with 71, are the other AL team to have scored fewer than 77.
“It’s going to come,” second baseman Mark Grudzielanek said. “We’ve got some guys hitting real well and some guys kind of taking a vacation. You’re going to have periods like that. You just battle through them.”
The reasons for the lack of offense cover the spectrum (all numbers through Sunday):
•The Royals don’t get on base. Their .313 on-base percentage ranks 13th among 14 AL teams, ahead of only the Twins at .302.
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